"German politicians took their country's foreign minister, Heiko Maas, to task on Wednesday in the Bundestag for supporting eight anti-Israel resolutions during a UN General Assembly vote dealing with the Israel-Arab conflict.

'I can't understand why Germany on an international stage abandoned Israel,'said Bijan Djir-Sarai, the foreign policy spokesman and a MP for the Free Democratic Party (FDP) faction in the Bundestag. Sarai asked Maas to explain why Germany voted eight times for "one-sided criticisms" against Israel at the UN. He wrote on Twitter that 'Israel friends rightly expect more from us here. Europe must not let Israel down at the UN.' He stressed that Europe has a 'responsibility' toward the Jewish state.

The UN General Assembly's 'Special Political and Decolonization Committee' passed nine resolutions against the policies of the Jewish state. Germany voted with Syria, Cuba, Saudia Arabia and Iran , among some of the countries, to condemn Israel.
...
The Vice Chairman of the FDP in in the Bundestag Alexander Lambsdorff tweeted last week: 'The UN is totally biased against Israel.'"

"The October 12 elections for seats on the UN Human Rights Council ushered in several new members with abysmal records on democracy and fundamental human rights.
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According to Freedom in the World, Freedom House's annual global analysis of political rights and civil liberties, the 46 new and returning council members include 22 countries rated Free, 10 Partly Free countries, and 14 that are considered Not Free. This mixture broadly resembles that at the global level, but the council has a somewhat smaller share of Partly Free countries and a thicker slice of Not Free countries than the world as a whole.

Indeed, the proportion of Not Free members, 30 percent, is the highest since the council was established to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights in 2006. Undemocratic regimes are represented in many multilateral institutions, but their strong presence on the Human Rights Council is in direct conflict with its mission.
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It is deeply troubling that a body whose mandate is to advance human rights worldwide would count among its members Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Bahrain, Eritrea, and Somalia. Some of these states are leading authoritarian regimes that have set out to eviscerate political opposition and crush all dissent at home while subverting democracy beyond their borders, including by taking aim at multilateral institutions. All eight feature systematic violations of fundamental rights whose perpetrators enjoy domestic impunity and far too little international accountability..."

Witnesses heard the knife-wielding attacker screamed "allahu akbar" as he threw himself at two policemen, according to local newspaper La Derniere. The attack took place in front of a city centre police station a short walk from the Belgian capital's Grand place, a world renowned tourist attraction. The attacker wounded one police officer outside the city's main police station on Rue du Marché au Charbon at around 5.30am local time on Tuesday morning, Ilse Van De Keere, a police spokesman, said.

The suspect was shot and wounded by another officer, she added.

Ms Van De Keere said there are no current confirmation of the attack being a terror incident and investigations are going. Police would not confirm witness reports the suspect said "Allahu Akbar" when he attacked.

She said: "A police officer was stabbed and slightly wounded.

"His colleagues retaliated by firing shots at the attack who was subdued."

The police officer was rushed to hospital but she confirmed the attacker's injuries are not life threatening, adding: "It is too early to say now what the motives of the attacker is.

"The investigation is underway."

Belgian justice minister Koen Geens also announced investigators were looking at all possible motivations including links to extremist groups but that there were no clear indications as yet.

According to reports by Belgian news website RTL, the attacker may have recently been sectioned.

Interior minister Jan Jambon wrote on Twitter: "The police are once again the victim of a cowardly attack."

During a radio interview, he said: "The perpetrator is not known in any database."

The suspect was not known to have linked to terrorism but is known to Belgian courts of weapons trafficking, according to La Derniere.

The mayor of Brussels, Philippe Close, wrote on Twitter: "All my support to the police officer injured in the line of duty and the police intervened to neutralise the attacker.

"Every day, police men and women in the country ensure the safety of our fellow citizens and deserve more than ever our respect and support."

Belgium has been under heightened security since the March 2016 attacks at Brussels' airport and subway that left 32 people dead, although the national threat level was reduced to two from three on a four-point scale in January.

French President Emmanuel Macron is due to visit the Brussels district of Molenbeek, home of the ISIS jihadists who carried out the 2015 Paris attacks that left 130 people dead.

A Palestinian suspected of stabbing a man in the face south of Jerusalem turned himself in to Israeli authorities Tuesday evening.

Border Police said the alleged assailant surrendered himself to officers at the Rachel checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

The man, in his 20s and from the nearby village Dheisheh, was taken for interrogation where Border Police said they will "ascertain with certainty" the motives of the attacker.

Authorities said that the nature of the attack had initially been unclear, but that the growing conclusion was that it was a nationalistically motivated terror attack.

The incident occurred near the bypass tunnel next to the Palestinian town of Beit Jala, northwest of Bethlehem.

Eyewitnesses said the Israeli man was attacked when he walked out of a store in the area, according to one of the medics who treated the victim.

Video footage from the scene showed the man exiting the shop and approaching his car before the Palestinian runs up behind him and begins stabbing him.

The 30-year-old victim was treated on the scene by medics from the Magen David Adom ambulance service and the Israel Defense Forces, who worked to stop the bleeding and bandage his wounds.

He was then transported to Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem where he was subsequently released.

Attacker dies week after Armon Hanatziv stabbing

Also Tuesday, a Shaare Zedek Medical Center spokesman said that the Palestinian assailant who injured four officers in a stabbing attack last week at a police station in Jerusalem's Armon Hanatziv neighborhood had succumbed to his wounds.

Abdul Rahman Abu Jamal, 17, from Jabel Mukaber, had been shot and seriously injured by Israeli forces after arrived at the entrance to the police station Wednesday and attacking and lightly injuring three officers.

During the scuffle a fourth officer was lightly hurt by shrapnel as others shot at the attacker.

The Armon Hanatziv neighborhood, some of which is in former no-man's land between East and West Jerusalem, has been the scene of several attacks in past years, including during a wave of stabbings in 2015 and 2016.